


Three Nights And A Morning

by Ohsoverysensible



Series: Dorian's Sweet Boy [10]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Adorable, Domestic, Flirting, Fluff, Humour, Light Angst, Light Smut, M/M, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-30
Updated: 2015-09-30
Packaged: 2018-04-23 23:52:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4897069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ohsoverysensible/pseuds/Ohsoverysensible
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The sun would set, the days events would be over, and the quiet of night would finally leave them in peace. It was the closet thing to distraction and routine as Dorian and Alex were ever going to get.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Alexander jumped awake at the sound of his door slamming shut. The darkness was abated by a flickering candle on Alex's night stand, but the sudden wakefulness he found himself in had his mind whirling and his hands reaching for some form of weapon. Ever a warrior, and ever at the ready nowadays, Alex was startled into a fight.

"Who's there?" he all but mumbled out into his empty room. There were footsteps on the stairs, and then a silhouette. And then a raised brow.

"At _ease_ ," Dorian purred out, his voice in a soft whisper. It wasn't like him to be quiet, and it threw Alex off a moment as he blinked. "You're so easily agitated lately," Dorian went on, approaching the bed with absolutely zero signs of hesitance.

Alexander blinked and dropped whatever he'd grabbed off his night stand. A letter opener. He chuckled just softly, almost to himself, before looking Dorian up and down. He was dressed. Barely. Wearing a pair of loose trousers and what looked like a night shift tucked haphazardly into the waistband. His hair was a little messy, deliriously mischevled, and Alex raised a red brow as Dorian stood over him.

"What are you doing?" Alex asked, his voice soft in the darkness as if he were going to disturb someone.

"Move over," Dorian said, waving Alex aside.

Alex blinked. "What?"

"I said move over," Dorian snapped in a little half-hearted whisper. "Unless you want me to lay on you. And not in the pleasant way."

Alexander chuckled, and as he slid over in the bed, Dorian removed his shirt and clambered in. Alex was suddenly very aware of his own nudity, and he tucked the blankets just a bit beneath him. "What are you doing?" Alex asked again, a blush in his cheeks as Dorian pulled the blankets over himself.

Dorian pulled close to Alex and laid a hand on his bare chest, pushing him down from his half seated position and forcing his head back to the pillow. It made Alex chuckle again. "It's called cuddling," Dorian said saucily. "I'm not particularly sure on the appeal of it, but I thought I'd test it out all the same." He made himself very comfortable, even as he pretended to be disinterested, with his head in the small indent between Alex's chest and his arm. 

Hands hovering above Dorian in slight confusion, Alex smirked as Dorian's dark head settled down on his shoulder. 

"Don't hover-hand me," Dorian scolded, strategically keeping his eyes towards the window. "I'm not an apparition."

"It seems as if you are," Alexander said smirking. Dorian did not appear to him as the kind of person to lay on his chest. It was somehow both hilarious to see, and absolutely wonderful. It was like being the only person a particularly grouchy dog took a liking too. It was like having a wild animal decide your hand was safe to eat from. "Am I dreaming?" Alex mused.

"Shut up, and go back to sleep," Dorian said.

But Alex laughed, laying his hands down on Dorian's arm and back. His own tan limb stretched across Alex's pale torso, the fingers tucked under his rib cage. "I'm just a little surprised."

Dorian sighed. He sounded so inconvenienced by this entire ordeal, as if Alex had been the one to call him forth. "I couldn't sleep," Dorian spat. "Therefore, I decided it was only right for me to disturb your peace."

"Naturally," Alex joked.

"So there you have it," said Dorian. "Now we're cuddling."

Alex laughed.

"Shh!"

"Why couldn't you sleep?" Alex wondered as the candlelight seemed to emphasize their opposite appearances. There was Alex, pale and stretched out but still rather bulky. His muscle wasn't corded and almost streamline like Dorian's was, though the other man was far from thin in that respect. There was just something a bit more graceful to Dorian's physique, to the ripple of muscles that lay under his dark skin. Even his fingers seemed longer, elegant, and when Alex inspected his own fingers they appeared to him more like sausages.

But then Dorian had that glorious backside...Even under the blankets, Alex could see the impressive curvature of it...

"I just couldn't," Dorian said at last, disrupting Alex's ogling.

Alexander smirked as he relaxed his head further into the pillow. He decided he very much enjoyed the weight of Dorian laying on him this way, his arm around Dorian's shoulder, holding him close. "Did you have a bad dream?"

"Am I a child?" Dorian spat.

Alex sighed. "I have nightmares," he said simply, shrugging and bouncing Dorian's head a bit. "I know Cullen does. I think even Varric has woken up with a bit of a start before. It's not uncommon, especially not with the life we lead."

"Yes well that's all well and good," Dorian said, his perturbed voice just a little smoother now. "But I'm not a fan of--"

"Being vulnerable," Alex finished, overlapping whatever Dorian had actually said. "I know."

Dorian squeezed Alex a little tighter, whether out of affection or annoyance, Alex couldn't tell. "Shut up," Dorian sighed, but the agitation in his voice was gentle.

Alexander hugged Dorian tighter and gave a blissful little sigh. "You don't have to admit it," Alexander said as he closed his lids. He could almost feel Dorian roll his eyes, and he gave a little huff of breath against Alex's skin. It was warm, and almost tickled as it ran across him. "I'll take whatever reason you want to give for you laying on me like this."

"Hm," Dorian assented. "Don't get used to it."

"I won't," Alex lied. He already knew that he wanted this again and again. When Dorian had spent the night before, they'd slept rather separately, perhaps touching each other at some point in the night now and then. Mostly they were both drunk and utterly exhausted, and the hangover the next morning had kept Alex in bed long after Dorian slunk off to his own quarters. Since then, Dorian hadn't slept in Alex's quarters again, though he'd spent more than enough time here. And Alex could have sworn he saw some of Dorian's clothes in his own dressing room...

Ever since they decided, at last, that love was in the air, Alex had wanted Dorian in his bed each night. And it astonished him that it wasn't always a sexual desire. In fact, now that Alex had Dorian in his arms this way, he realized this was exactly what he'd been missing since Adamant. Just this. It wasn't even something Alex was used to, having shared a bed only once or twice with another person. But this was perfection, the exact added extra he wanted on top of Dorian's confession.

Alex snuggled down into bed a little closed to Dorian's warm body.

"Did I wake you?" Dorian asked after a short silence, his tone sleepier and quieter now that Alex wasn't questioning his arrival.

"No," Alex said.

"You lie."

"Well it's because I don't care," said Alexander with a smile. "You just startled me. I don't often hear my door in the middle of the night."

"It got away from me," Dorian admitted a little sheepishly. "I didn't mean to slam it. I wasn't in _that_ bad of a mood."

Alex grinned. "Are you in a better mood now?"

Alex felt Dorian's entire body rise and fall with a slow, deep, steadying breath. "I'll admit," he began slowly. "This is rather comfortable. You make a decent pillow for all your rippling pectorals." Alexander chuckled and his chest rumbled. It made Dorian hum out a little laugh of his own. "I can hear you laugh," Dorian noted. "You also have very loud lungs."

Alex laughed again and Dorian chuckled a little louder.

"Can you hear my heart beat?" Alex asked.

"Yes."

"Is it fast?"

Dorian snickered. "Should it be? Am I making you nervous?"

"Nervous isn't the word," Alexander said sleepily. He yawned.

"Is the word aroused?" Dorian mused, making Alex snort. "I suppose I could just reach down and investigate."

"Don't you dare," Alex warned, though the threat was incredibly half hearted.

Dorian hummed again. "It's terribly tempting. But I'm far too comfortable being your blanket."

Alex chuckled. "Dorian the Blanket and Alexander the Pillow."

"We could make a fortune if we sold ourselves," Dorian joked weakly. "Imagine the market in Orlais. They'd be lining up at the door!"

"At the door of our borderline brothel?" Alexander wondered.

"Oh well you had to take it there, didn't you," Dorian scolded playfully. Alex could see his smirk, even as his cheek pressed into Alex's chest. "We could rent ourselves out. Temporary companions for those nights when regular bedclothes just won't do."

"Then it would be dozens of old widows lining up at our door," Alexander said.

"Ooh," Dorian hissed. "That's a bit dark."

Alexander put a hand to his forehead. "Maker, I didn't mean...I wasn't aiming for depressing."

"I know, I know," Dorian soothed. "Relax, sweet boy, you never mean anything cruelly. At any rate, I think our joint business would most likely fall flat with just the two of us. Best to keep all the profits for ourselves, don't you think?"

"I agree," Alexander smiled. In a moment of weakness and with a lack of forethought, Alex bent forward and kissed the top of Dorian's head. His hair smelled somehow like flowers, but with a surprisingly welcoming scent of Dorian's salty skin.

But Dorian looked sharply up, which was an interesting angle. "You _did not_ _just_...!"

Alexander, blushing beyond belief, grinned. "I..."

Dorian groaned. "Oh now we're getting syrupy. You ruined the banter!"

Alex laughed. "I'm sorry! It's not my fault! I get...swept up with you sometimes."

"Ugh, I feel dirty now," Dorian teased. "May have to call for a bath first thing tomorrow."

Alex shoved Dorian off him with a laugh. Dorian's responding _oof_ was a good reward. "Cuddle yourself then!" Alex said, shoving Dorian as far as he could with a grin.

Dorian just shoved back until the battle was won with a pillow to the face, and they lay side by side smirking like idiots at each other, shaking their heads against the pillows.

"So what was the dream about?" Alexander asked softly as the candle behind him threw Dorian's face into light, and his own into shadow. Dorian's eyes sparkled with the yellow glow.

He sighed, the barrier down at least slightly. "I can honestly barely remember," he said. "I just remember waking up and feeling...I just didn't want to be in the dark any longer."

Alexander hesitated. "Are you...is that a fear for you?"

"The dark?" Dorian mused. "No. Not really. I don't think anyone can confidently say they don't fear a night without firelight, without the knowledge that you could whip up a flame if you needed to. Does it frighten you?"

Alex shrugged. "I used to be more afraid of it I think. But you're right, I believe everyone is secretly afraid of darkness. It's not a comfortable feeling at least."

"Hm," Dorian agreed. He closed his eyes and looked incredibly peaceful laying beside Alex. Alexander didn't often watch people as they slept, and he'd certainly rarely seen Dorian like this, but the atmosphere...the conversation...it was very relaxing. It was very...homey. It was very real.

"In the Fade," Alexander whispered to Dorian's closed eyes. "I saw something I don't think anyone else did."

"And what was that?" Dorian mumbled, eyes still closed, handsome face still at ease.

Alexander scooted himself just slightly closer. "I saw everyone's fears. Written menacingly on tombstones."

Dorian's eyes darted around behind his lids, and Alex could see a slight tightening of his jaw before he shifted absently under the covers. "What did mine say?"

Alex's eyes twitched all over Dorian's face a moment. "Temptation."

Dorian was very still for a very long moment. Then his voice cracked out indifferently. "Hm. I suppose I could see that."

"Really? Because I don't," Alex said. "You seem like the exact opposite of that really. Temptation either never phases you, or you resist it easily."

"No," Dorian said, opening his eyes very swiftly. It was suddenly like he'd never had them closed. "It is not easy. In fact, Alex, you would be classified as a temptation. I came from a land, a _world_ of temptation. I was raised with it around me, both as a cautionary tale as well as an indisputable fact. I am truly very weak when it comes to that, hence why I fear it so greatly. It is always far too difficult to know whether a temptation will benefit you, or be the ruin of you."

Alexander swallowed hard. "And...so which am I?"

Dorian took another one of those slow, deep, meaningful breaths and blinked at Alex a moment. His whole face went sad but slack. "I'm still trying to decide."


	2. Chapter 2

When Dorian opened the door to Alex's quarters, the sun casting it all in an oddly cool wash of orange, the first thing he heard was grunting. At first the sound alarmed him, but it quickly faded to a general curiosity as he mounted the stone steps and came up past the railing.

In the middle of the room, shirtless (because of course he was), Alex was on all fours. Well, all fours to a certain degree. He had his hands flat down on the floor with his entire body aloft, held in place only by his splayed fingers and toes. Covered in a little sheen of sweat regardless of the cool mountain air that blew in through the balcony windows, Dorian had apparently caught Alexander in the middle of training.

For perhaps longer than he should have, Dorian stayed stock still by the stairs enjoying the view. It surprised him that the big lug hadn't heard his approach, hadn't heard him shut the door tightly before coming up the stairs. But the grunting effort with which Alexander sweated under obviously had his full attention. Along the wall behind him, Alex's enormous axe rested in a dangerously upright position. It looked strange to see it here in Alex's quarters, but not surprising. Alex was endlessly tweaking or sharpening the thing.

Maker look at those arms, Dorian thought as he looked back. In this position, as Alex bobbed up and down with his push ups, Dorian was sure Alexander's biceps were the size of his face. Especially under duress like they were. Alex wasn't a show off, even if he was proud of his accomplishments or impressive physique, and the only time Dorian had ever gotten the man to flaunt was with a few drinks or with a healthy dose of competition. Which neither of them could really avoid.

But that meant Dorian rarely got the opportunity to watch Alexander's body this way. He stared at him more than enough, obviously, but any time he could be investigating Alex's physical fitness or form, they were probably a little too busy doing other things. Other things included fighting off idiots who dared attack them, handling weighty diplomatic disputes, or fucking. Dorian got his hands on Alex well enough when it came to the latter, but analysis was a little difficult in certain positions.

Dorian rolled his eyes. Now Alex was doing push ups with alternating arms. "Well that's just over the top," Dorian said. His sudden voice made Alex's elbow shake out from under him, and he fell onto the little rug beneath his body with an annoyed sigh.

"Do you  _have_ to do that all the time?" Alex asked as he pushed himself up again and back onto his knees. He ran a hand through his sweaty hair and stared a little breathlessly at Dorian.

Dorian himself felt a little breathless. But he also couldn't help but chuckle. "Your cheeks are incredibly red! Look at you! Like a little porcelain doll!"

Alex rolled his eyes and stood up, stretching out his shoulders and definitely showing off. Whether he meant to or not, there was more than enough for Dorian's eyes to take in. "I don't appreciate being snuck up on," Alexander stated as he made his way over to the doorway of his dressing room. 

"I honestly imagined that you'd heard me," Dorian fibbed just slightly. "I was hoping you were simply giving me a show. I do like watching you sweat."

Alexander chuckled and stood in the doorway a moment, shaking out his hands and his arms. "Did you come here for a reason though?" Alex wondered, casually leaping up and hooking his fingers around something at the top of the door. Dorian couldn't see it hidden on the other side, but in the next moment, Alexander was pulling himself up and down, carrying his entire body weight in those massive arms.

Dorian was both impressed and confused. "Maker, what  _are_ you? You can't seriously need to put your body through any more than it has been through."

"I need to keep fit," Alexander grunted, pulling himself up yet again and lowering himself with control.

"I doubt it," Dorian scoffed. "I think you do enough to keep your body ready for action, don't you? Now you're just overdoing it."

Alex chuckled and hung there in the air for a moment, turning his piercing blue eyes on Dorian. "I thought you wanted a show?"

Dorian raised a brow, but Alex just kept going. "It's not exactly that impressive," Dorian said after a moment of watching Alex go up and down, up and down. He meandered closer and followed Alex with his eyes, though they strayed every now and then. The stretch Alex was getting in his torso every time he hung was incredibly pleasing, and his trousers were low enough to show off the bones of his hips. It was like a feast for a man who'd already eaten his fill, but a feast nonetheless. "Your immense size already gives you an advantage. That's probably easy."

Alexander dropped down and shook out his fingers again. Somehow he seemed taller, though Dorian knew his extra inch or so still lingered between them with or without Alex's mass. "You think it's easy for me?" Alex wondered with a smirk. "Or easy in general?"

Dorian sized up Alex a moment before sizing up the height of the metal bar that had been somehow mounted into the stone above the door. He just raised his dark brow again. "You're not the only fine specimen in Skyhold, Alex. You're not even the only one in the room."

Alex laughed and stepped back, gesturing to the doorway with a sly grin. "Show me what you've got then, Lord Pavus."

Dorian raised a pointed finger. "Don't do that. Pettiness is not attractive you know."

"But physical prowess clearly is," Alexander said. He was full of adrenaline, endorphins, from his little work out session and it was making him braver. Dorian liked this version of Alex almost as much as he liked the little sweet one, but this side was endlessly more arousing.

After a moment of heated stand off, Dorian undid his belt and took off his robes to reveal his strappy base. "I cannot believe I'm doing this," he grumbled as he moved past Alex towards the bar. He stood in the doorway and looked up at the bar above him. On closer inspection, it did seem much farther up, and for a split second Dorian actually regretted this decision.

"I'll forgive you if your palms are sweaty," Alexander teased, crossing his big arms over his broad chest. Someone with that much of an innocent, baby-like face should not have that kind of sexual allure. But Alex's strong jaw and heavy brow usually cancelled out his freckles and blue eyes.

Dorian gave a little scoffing grunt, throwing Alex a glare for a moment, before leaping up with grace and agility and grabbing onto the bar.

"Easy part down," Alexander chided, moving closer. "Now you have to actually--oh."

Dorian pulled himself up with something like ease, though it was no where near as fast as Alexander's own pull ups. But he managed to do quite a few in quick succession, even if he held his breath and even if his arms shook a little bit. Alexander, of course, noticed all this, but he knew Dorian's pride and he knew his own. Instead of mocking the obvious effort, Alex simply applauded the actual skill it took to do that. 

"I'm impressed," Alex said. "Especially for someone who just twirls a staff every now and then."

Dorian dropped. " _Twirls a staff...!_ " he spat, a tiny bit out of breath.

Alexander laughed. "It isn't exactly heavy," said Alex. "I can't imagine it takes much...muscle."

"I could smash your skull in with an ice block," Dorian said darkly.

Alex held his hands up in surrender. "I didn't say anything against magic," he defended with a grin.

"No, just the tool with which I  _conjure_ that magic," Dorian said. There was a soft flush to his own skin and he was suddenly feeling warmer than he had been before. It had been a while since Dorian actually did physical activity, at least other than fighting alongside Alex and roaming Thedas. He'd lost weight, actually, due to that. And muscle mass. But Alex just gained it, that massive axe of his acting as strength training while all Dorian did was sweat off pounds running around.

Dorian turned and jutted his chin towards Alex's axe. "I could say it takes very little skill to heft that thing and throw it about," he challenged. "It takes  _only_ muscle really."

Alex scoffed. "I'd like to see you take that thing and try and handle an approaching hoard without any training."

"Why is that thing even up here?" Dorian asked bitterly, rolling out his wrist when Alex looked away and cursing his pride in his head.

Alexander raised a brow and pointed behind him. "Dorian, your staff is literally leaning behind my desk."

Dorian looked over Alex's bare shoulder and cracked a smirk. "Ah!" he said. "That's where I left that. Never mind anyhow, that's an old one."

"But the question is," Alex said, walking over to it, "why is it in my room?"

Dorian shrugged and inexplicably found himself meandering towards Alex's axe leaning on the wall.

"I think I also have some of your trousers in my wardrobe," Alexander went on, lifting up the staff from where it rested and bringing it over to Dorian. He stopped, however, and stared with wide eyes and a smirk.

Alexander stood there with Dorian's staff in his fingers, and there was Dorian cautiously holding Alex's axe with two hands. Both weapons were on the floor, upright, unthreatening, and the two of them took in the opposite sights with interest. After a moment of strange silence, Alexander snorted. "You look ridiculous."

"Me?" Dorian spat. "Look at you! Who would ever need shoulders like that with a staff, I mean honestly."

"Don't talk about my shoulders!" Alex laughed, gesturing with his free hand at Dorian as he tried to stand a little sturdier. "Can you even lift that?"

"I can lift it!"

Alex cocked his head to the side. "Go on then."

Dorian glared, but then he looked at the axe and could already feel how truly heavy the damned thing was. He took in a determined breath and gritted his teeth. Lifting with both hands, he managed to keep his face and his reaction under control. It was ridiculous. It wasn't as heavy as he'd really anticipated, but Maker, it was damned closed. How Alex hefted this thing around so easily was beyond him. Dorian did not think himself physically weak, having been in more than a few fist fights in his time and coming out the victor for the most part, but this was preposterous.

And he felt like an idiot.

"This surely looks outrageous," Dorian said. "Are you getting your fill?" he asked Alex, who had started to slowly laugh the moment Dorian picked the axe up.

"Do it with one hand," Alexander laughed.

"Fuck off," Dorian snapped, though he grinned just slightly before setting the axe down heavily and leaning it back against the wall. It slipped a bit and Dorian fumbled to right it before it could slide down and slice into the floor.

"It's sharp, Dorian, be careful," Alex chided gently, coming closer and leaning Dorian's old staff beside the massive blade of the axe. It looked funny to them both, but also somehow perfect.

Still, Dorian scoffed and looked away. "I can't even remember why I came up here now," he said sourly, bending to grab up his robes and throw them over his arm. He started to head back towards the stairs but Alex easily caught the crook of his elbow and whirled him back. The sun was almost fully behind the mountains, and everything was a little greyish-blue now as night fell.

"Don't pout," Alexander said, pulling Dorian close. He was almost dry now from the cool breeze, and when Dorian's fingers landed on one of those massive arms he could feel goosebumps. "I actually rather liked the image of you with a massive weapon in your hands."

Dorian rolled his eyes. "My hands  _are_ a massive weapon. Recall I don't need to twirl a staff."

"Recall I don't need an axe or a maul," Alexander purred, tightening his grip on Dorian as well as lowering his hands.

"Are you suggesting we wrestle?" Dorian joked saucily. "Finally decide whose the manliest of all men that way?"

Alexander chuckled. "Depends on what kind of wrestling you mean," he purred.

Dorian couldn't resist the slow grin reaching his lips. He shook his head. "I've been such a bad influence on you," Dorian smirked. "Look at that face you're making. That's  _my_ face."

Alex chuckled again, but he pulled Dorian a little closer, his expression softening more to his usual attitude. "Not a fan?"

"Of myself?" Dorian mused. "Or of you sounding more and more like me every day?"

"I'd think both of those please you," Alex smirked.

Dorian reached around him and yanked him close, using Alexander's backside as leverage. "You're quite right." He rolled his hips just slightly and felt Alex's instant little twitching reaction. He chuckled darkly. "Well," Dorian said, moving his lips close enough to kiss. "At least we know whose is bigger in that respect. Isn't that where it counts?" he cooed. Letting his lips just barely touch Alex's, Dorian grinned at the control he had over this incredibly powerful man in his arms.

Dorian hummed. "You're muscle has nothing on me _there_."


End file.
